Running out of days
by Scythewing
Summary: Kai is an orphan and a bad ass one to be exact. Now he gets his last chance at a fosterhome, but will they be able to turn this streetfigthing and well-known-to-the-police teen into the right direction...?
1. Prologue

Okay here we go. This is sort of a thing I am writing on when I feel the need to take a break from "Highway to Hell". That is when I have the time to write at all, between school and work, and volley ball, which I have just started playing. Man do you get hurt at that game, or at least I do (can you see how much I love to talk about nothing?). I've sprained my right thumb, and I'm right-handed wohoo, and my arms are like two major black marks, lets just say it hurts...

Disclaimer for the entire story, every single chapter: I don't own any of the characters from Beyblade or anything else at all (think that should cover it).

If not mentioned otherwise, they are wearing the clothes they did in the first season perhaps with minor changes. (please bear with me on my highly detailed description of Kai and most of his clothes being black...I think it suits him...drools)

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**Running out of days **

Prologue

The teen sitting on the miserable looking old bed let out a number of perfect smoke rings. The room he sat in was old, the walls once white, were now a dull greyish colour and the four beds in it were old military looking metal beds with a white worn-out shed, a matching blanket and pillow. The teens light blue bangs fell into his face covering a pair of deep crimson eyes and the darker blue hair in the back was shorter, but just as spiky as the bangs. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a single red feather indulged in flames on the front, a pair of black baggy pants with lots of pockets, black fingerless gloves and a pair of black slightly worn-out sneakers. Around his neck was a silver necklace and his wrists were graced with several black string, some leather ones and three silver bracelets. His face held two blue shark fin tattoos on each cheek and a small silver stud pierced his left ear. He also had another tattoo and another piercing, though they where not visible at the moment. Actually not many even knew about those two. Most of his back was covered by a huge tattoo of a pair of crimson wing with small flames a different places, so that the wing seemed to be on fire, and when he sometimes moved, the light would make them look real. His second piercing was a tongue piercing, and although he had had it for more than a year only two or three people knew about it.

He was sitting with his eyes closed, currently listening to Nada Surf "Where is my mind" on his discman, while he was smoking and making sure to blow the smoke out the window, so that he wouldn't get caught. Next to the bed was a duffle bag, black and looking worn-out as most of his possessions, which besides from the clothes he was wearing and the discman consisted of; two more pairs of pants, black and dark blue, 4 t-shits, all black or dark red, two black muscle tank tops, a black sweat jacket with a hood, some black socks and boxers, a black notebook filled with sketches, and a few CD's such as Nirvana, 3 Doors Down, Shinedown, Nickelback and Finch. His most prised possessions were a silver lighter with a beautiful carving of a phoenix on the side, which he always had on him, a silver blade with a black handle, and black skateboard with black wheels and a single red feather indulged in flames on it together with his name written in crimson matching his eyes. The skateboard was different from his other positions, it was well-used like the rest of his stuff, but just like a skateboard normally would look after years of use. The thing was, that it was a very good design and it would defiantly have cost more than a normal orphan could have paid. Kai certainly hadn't gotten anything in the families he had lived with over the years, so he had learned to make the money he needed on his own. Street fighting was a easy way of making fast money, and Kai was good at it. He knew the tricks, the different types of battle styles, was a really good at material arts and he had the muscle and fast movements to back it up. The blade was useful in battles and as for protections when he would wonder the streets at night time. As the tongue piercing and the smoking, the blade was something he kept from the adults at the orphanage.

He finished the cigarette and threw it out the window only seconds before the door opened and a man stepped into the room.

"Kai?"

Since the teens wasn't looking at the door and the music was loud enough for even the man to hear it quite clearly, he reckoned that Kai hadn't heard him at all. So instead of calling out for him again, the man chose to walk over to Kai and placed his hand gently on the teens shoulder. Kai flinched and quickly moved away from the hand, glaring hard at the intruder of his peace.

"What?" he hissed out.

"Mr. Dickinson is waiting for you in his office. The people from the home came a little early."

The boy just sat there glaring at the man a few seconds more, before getting up, packing his discman into his duffle bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he made his way across the room, leaving the man behind without uttering another word.

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Yes, I know it was short, but the next chapter is going to be longer. This was sort of a prologue or something like that...

Listening to "Where is my mind" while writing, it doesn't really match his music taste but the text in it is just great for this scene...and I like the song...heh he he.

Please review...


	2. Last chance

Okay, my mind was more set on this story than "Highway to Hell", so that'll have to wait to next time I find a spare moment...And I added something to the prologue, and fixed some spelling mistakes I just happened to notice...

By the way thanks to my reviewers, you so made my day. I'm not sure if this will be just as detailed in descriptions, but I'll try.

Can anyone guess where the title is from (just asking for the fun of it)?

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**Running out of days**

Chapter one- Last chance

Kai entered Mr. Dickinson's office and barely registering the presence of a woman and two men besides Mr. Dickinson, he dropped down into a chair in front of the desk and put his bag on the floor next to it. After a few moments of which nothing was said Mr. Dickinson finally spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Hm, Kai. As you were informed yesterday, this will be your last chance. If you can't seem to work it out this time, I really don't know what to do with you. The foster home you will join is a special one. It is run by Judy Tate, Bruce Granger and his father."

As he spoke, he motioned towards the three other people in the room. Kai turned his head slightly to the left, his eyes barely visible under the slate bangs as he took in his future foster parents. Judy was a blonde smiling woman with blue eyes. She was wearing a purple shirt and a black skirt. Bruce was rather tall and muscular with navy blue hair, dark blue eyes and a smile just as big as Judy's. While the two of them were located in the sofa, Bruce's father, a white-haired old man with a almost youthful energy radiating of him, was standing next to it with his hands placed on his katana. No emotions was shown on Kai's face, but on the inside a glint of curiosity was sparkling at the sight of the katana.

"Mr. Granger used to teach material arts, but now about 8 years ago he and his son decided to make the dojo into a foster home, and did so with the help from Judy. At the moment I believe there to be 3 boys living at the home, besides from Judy's son and Bruce's son. Luckily they feel that they have enough time to take in one more. Now I don't want to see you here again Kai," he smiled at the teen "so do try to make an effort this time."

With that Mr. Dickinson got up and so did everyone else in the room. Kai grabbed his bag and went out into the hallway. As he walked down it, he could hear them talking about him. Off course they thought him to be too far away and therefore made no attempt to whisper, but he had a really good hearing.

"Here's his file, birth certificate and some other papers. I hope you know what you've gotten yourselves into and that you don't give up to easily. Many has tried to reach Kai, but they have all failed. I hope that you will succeed. I know you've been informed of his background and so on, but I highly advice you to let him tell the other boys. Don't go behind his back, his doesn't have much trust in people as it is."

"Don't worry dude, he gonna be just fine with the little dudes at home"

Kai cringed at the words. Both the meaning of them and the way Mr. Granger was speaking, as if he was a teen himself. Reaching him and opening him up. How he hated it when people thought that they could get under his skin that easily. There was no way that was happening anytime soon, but he would play along for a while, just so that he didn't get thrown back to the orphanage. Actually that wasn't such a bad idea, then he would probably get kicked into the streets and what new would there be in that. At least he knew the streets, compared to a foster home. But before he had more time to think about it, he had reached the door and the three adults had joined him. As they proceeded walking towards the car, which turned of the be a rather large van, there was no verbal exchange between them. During the ride Kai kept staring out the window ignoring everything around him and they let him do it for the time being, thinking it was better to wait until they got home.

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As they reached a nice neighbourhood that Kai immediately recognised, he did after all live 2 years in the streets and knew the town by heart, Judy turned around to face Kai.

"So Kai, when we get there you'll meet the other boys and then we go over the rules."

At the word rules, Kai let out a small snort, but nobody noticed.

The van pulled up to a gate at a brick wall and Mr. Granger got out of the car to open the gate and let the car in. Kai stepped out of the car along with the adults and took in his new 'home'. In front of the house that seemed to be a big square with two long extensions making it look like an L from above, were a pond with orange and red fishes in it and lots of plants and trees were decorating the garden.

He was later to find out that the backyard held a big natural pool so to speak and the training building, as it was called. That was were Mr. Granger used to teach material arts, and still did in a way, which Kai would also learn later on.

Entering the dojo you came straight into the large kitchen. Kai looked around before he followed the adults into the even larger living room. It had a door leading out into the backyard and the pool and several huge windows letting all the light into the room. Sitting sprayed around the room in different chairs and sofas were five boys.

"Okay boys, we're back. This is Kai, why don't you show him to his room and tell him a little about yourselves, while we prepare lunch?" Judy said smiling at Kai.

The adults left the living room to go and make the lunch while the five boys got up and walked over to Kai. Standing there in front of him for a few seconds, one of them finally spoke up.

"Uhm...Hi, my name is Tyson. I'm 14 and I'm not really living at the home. Well I am, but Bruce is my dad, so I'm not an orphan."

The boy who spoke had the same navy coloured hair as Bruce and the same dark blue eyes. It was tied together in an ponytail at the back and he had a red and blue cap on backwards. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a red short-sleeved jacket over it, a pair of blue shorts and knee-high socks in a pair of sneakers. On his face was a big smile, probably something that he inherited from his father and grandfather.

Tyson seemed to think that he was the leader of the boys, since he continued the introducing, but Kai could tell by the older guys that they were just letting him believe it for a moment

"This is Max. He is 14 just like me and Judy is his mother."

This kid was if possible smiling even more that Tyson. In fact his entire body seemed to radiate cheerfulness and so did his clothes. He was wearing a blue t-shirt with red trimmings and two big yellow stars on it, a pair of grey short and a blue sneakers matching his t-shirt. His sky-blue eyes and blond hair gave of a complete air of naivety from him.

"And here we have Michael Vargas. The baseball nut is 16 years old and I think has been here at the foster home for nearly 6 years now. Ain't that right, Mike?"

"It's Michael, not Mike...and no, I've been living here more 7 years. Time just flies by..." Michael slipped a slight touch of malice into his voice at the remark about his name, but his eyes were glimmering with humour at Tyson's cheery smile as he obviously tried to stay out of trouble.

He was almost a head taller than Kai with a mess of red spiky hair stuck under a blue baseball cap that was on the right way as supposed to Tyson's. He had a pair of playful blue eyes and a small smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth, though he did not seem quite as childlike happy as max and Tyson. He was in a pair of army green baggy shorts, a yellow t-shirt with white baseball-like short-sleeved shirt over and a pair of blue sneakers.

"Then there's Rei Kon, he's 15. And I KNOW he's been here for 5 years with his cousin Lee Shao, who's 16 by the way. I clearly remember that, because they got here just before my 9th birthday"

Rei was Chinese looking and had the resemblance of a cat to him. His amber eyes were shinning and he was smiling friendly at Kai, who didn't return it, so that you could see his canine teeth. His black bang was kept out of his face by a red bandana with a yin and yang symbol on it. His clothing was a bit different from the former boys, clearly with a touch of his Chinese heritage. Black sneakers with matching black loose pants, a white Chinese styled shirt with three golden lines across it and as a finishing touch; a red band tied around his waist. What really took Kai be surprise, not that it was shown on his face, was the plaited ponytail in the back. It barely stood but a foot from the ground.

Lee on the other hand had short hair and didn't look much like Rei, but still they had something in common. They both had the feline teeth and eyes, although Lee's were as pitch-black as his hair. He was wearing the exact same black sneakers and black pants as Rei, but his shirt wasn't as Chinese looking as his cousin. As the matter of fact he was wearing a tight grey muscle shirt and a open, black, shorts-sleeved shirt on top of that. Around his neck hung a leather string with five green stones on it.

After everyone had been introduced they just stood there looking at Kai, waiting for him to say something about himself...

"My name is Kai Hiwatari. I'm 15 and will only be staying here till I get kicked out."

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Not sure if it is called a katana, please tell me so that I can get it right...and Rei Max are in their second season clothes, cause it makes Max look a bit more grownup, and Rei doesn't have that long shirt on...

And off course REVIEW... pretty please...


	3. First day

**I'm sorry to bother those, who have already read the first chapters, but I've added a few minor things to the Kai's possessions, their age is different, and I tried to change the AA-meeting (ha ha ha...nice description Wah-Keetcha, thanks for the very useful description...though I already knew that part sucked, but I was too tired at the time to think straight) into a normal introducing, but I don't know if that worked...Anyway on with the fic...**

**Still keeping things that concern Kai in black, and probably will the entire story.**

**Sorry that I didn't mentioned it earlier, but inspiration (and permission) to this fic is from "Smile Empty Soul"...but it's different...Kai kicks ass...he he he.**

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**Running out of days**

Chapter two- First day

Tyson's jar made a close encounter with the floor and though the rest boys were a bit shocked too they did a better job of hiding than Tyson.

"Uhm...I'll show you to your room, Kai." Michael was the first to leave the trance like state they were in.

As Kai followed Michael through a door down the larger one of the to wings which had doors on either side of the hallway, he heard Tyson's disbelieving voice discussing the fact that Kai obviously didn't want to stay. Max was equally loud, stating that this 'was the best place in the world', so why didn't he like it.

"Okay, I'm just gonna show you which room belongs to whom, then you'll be free to settle in."

"Hn"

"First door on the left is the bathroom, it's rather large but with 5...now 6... people it can get kind of hectic in the morning." Michael smiled, his mind lingering a few seconds on a morning three days ago where they had locked Tyson and Max out of the bathroom to have more time and space for them selves.

"On the left we got Tyson, Max, me and then you down at the end. On the right Lee, Rei and then there's a spare guest room."

Kai looked at each door when he passed by it. Tyson and Max's doors each had a big sign in blue and purple with their name on, Tyson having the blue one, and the rest of the doors were totally covered in posters and cut-outs from cartoons. Next was Lee and Rei's on the right, both of them looking normal. Nothing was really on Lee's door except three black letters scattered around spelling his name. Rei's name on his door was actually made of white fur with greens stripes. Kai barely held back a shudder as he looked at the fury letters, but couldn't keep his face from scrunching. Since Michael was walking in front of Kai, he didn't notice this shortly change in Kai's otherwise stone like face. Michael's door looked the most normal next to Lee's. With his name written neatly on a poster and a baseball poster below it. That left only the guest room and...

"So this is your room, hope you like it. There's the basic things, but we couldn't get everything in time, so Judy an Bruce are going to take us a out shopping tomorrow seeing as it is Saturday, and then we'll get the stuff you need. What do you think?"

Quickly scanning the, by his experience, rather large room he took in all the details of it. Entering the room you would find yourself facing a large window with a black desk in front of it and a black chair matching it. To the right of the desk over in the corner was something between a single and a double bed with a pillow and a blanket, though there were no sheets or bed linen. To the right when you just entered the room was a closet in black matted steel and to the left the white wall was filled with shelves in the same black colour and material. Actually every piece of furniture was in the same matching black material. The floor was in a light coloured tree and so was the loft.

"If you think it's to dark, we can get some new furniture or something like that?" Michael didn't really sound like he believed in his own question, taking in Kai's dark clothes at the same times as he spoke.

"Or maybe we should paint the walls black to?" He smiled at Kai

"It's fine, I like it dark. I would prefer crimson for the walls instead of black though." Kai, picking up on the teasing tone in Michael's voice, smirked at him.

"I think Judy has some spare bed linen, you can use till tomorrow, so just drop your bag and we can got get some lunch."

Kai stepped over to his bed and dropped his bag onto to it. Then after another glance around the room, interpreting every little detail and mentally noting to do so with the entire house, so that he'd bee able to sneak around in the dark without bumping into something and waking someone up, he left he room, Michael following him back to the living room.

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Back in the living room, the others had returned to watching the TV like they were when Kai had first gotten there. Michael joined Rei and Lee on the big couch and since Tyson and Max were sitting on the other one, and Kai didn't feel one bit like sitting too close to the two of them, he tossed himself on a huge and very soft leather chair. It was almost big enough to be a mini sofa. Sitting sideways in it with his legs dangling over the armrest, Kai made no effort to watch the TV. He found it more gaining to look at the other guys, trying to figure them out. Who was worth something and who wasn't, and who was going to rattle on him for staying out let and stuff like that. 

Tyson and Max were quickly forgotten about, their age and being son of either Bruce and Judy were the main reasons. Michael looked like the kind of guy who would be able to make it on the streets and his humour somewhat resembled Kai's in a way. Rei and Lee were a bit difficult to place. They both looked like they would know how to have their fun, but they also held a air of I-don't-break-the-rules´ to them. Kai figured that he needed more time to get those to straight, but hey he had great time, being forced to live here. Oh well, it couldn't be all that much worse then some of the homes he'd been to in his time.

"So Kai! How long have you been an orphan? If you don't mind me asking" Max was looking innocently at Kai.

"Actually I do"

"Lunch time guys, and don't worry Max, Kai will tell us about himself at lunch, right?" Bruce had emerged from the kitchen.

"Sure, whatever" came the sarcastic answer as they rose and went into the kitchen.

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In the kitchen they all sat down at the table, the adults at the ends and the boys along the sides, three on each side. Kai ended up between Michael and Bruce. Quickly scanning the table, he grabbed a sandwich with chicken and salad and a coke. Tyson was practically throwing himself at the food, so the other hurried to grab two sandwiches each just to be sure of actually getting something to eat. The first five minutes or so passed by as everyone got settled and started to eat. 

" So Kai. If you could tell a little about yourself and your life, then we'll discuss the rules afterwards." Bruce asked and Kai turned his attention from his food to the smiling man, looking like he wasn't planning to answer, then realising that he didn't have much of a choice. Unless he wanted them to keep asking and bugging him all the time about it, he had to tell them at lest the most necessary things about his life, so they'd get of his case and leave him alone

"My parents died in a plane crash when I was 4, so I was sent to live with my Grandfather in Russia till I was 8. Then I got back here and into the system. Been to 12 adopted homes and 3 foster homes since then, with visits to the orphanage in between."

The speech was quickly delivered without any trace of emotion at all. Kai took a sip of his soda, letting them know that he'd finished telling by a hard glare.

"But why were you sent to the orphanage when you were 8? Did your Grandfather die?" Max was back in his innocent and extremely curious mode again.

"Nope. He's in jail, on the charge of child abuse."

"Child abuse?" for the second time that day, their jaws almost had a meeting with the floor, or in this case the table.

Kai didn't make eye contact and Judy, seeing this, tried to help the teen out.

"It's okay Kai, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"It's okay. I don't really have any feelings left for him and what he did. And since you three", he motions to the adults, "already know, I know you've read the files on me, I might as well tell the whole story, though there's not much to tell. He beat me, on a regular basis, meaning that whenever he wouldn't be away on one of his business trip, I'd get the crap beaten out of me. One day the finally noticed at school. It was good practice though, as 5 of my adopted homes were abusive as well."

During Kai's little speech, they had finished eating and where just sitting there, listening to him.

"Are we done with the whole story-telling?" Kai said and drank the last of his coke.

"Yeah, guess we are. I'll just explain the most general rules then we can lay out to the details in the afternoon. All of you must be home at 9.00 at the latest on a school night and in bed by 10.00. In the weekends curfew is at 10.30 and there isn't really a rule saying when you are to be in bed. Everyone is helping out with something at the house, like setting the table and so on. My father used to teach material arts, and you'll learn Kai that he still does. Two times a week you are having an hour and a half of training out in the old training building. I think we'll leave it at that for now. All you guys are of the hook today, cleaning up the kitchen." Bruce spoke with a huge smile on his face and didn't notice Kai's small smirks at the mention of the, by his standard, way early curfew. Actually no one around the table were able to see the changes in his stone-like face, because they were so small.

Not saying anything, Kai got up and left for his room, the other teens, yelling a bit out in joy, for not having to clean up, soon followed and went to their rooms. Judy cleaned up the kitchen and the Grangers headed to the training building to practice a little bit.

Kai immediately noticed that someone had been in the room and left some bed linen, probably when he was in the living room before lunch. After a few moments of thought he decided to put it on, then after puling out his discman with 3 Doors Down, flicking to the song "Life of my own", he lay on his back on the newly made bed and cranked up the volume as much as it was physically possible.

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**Wehooo a whole chapter more (with all my homework, this close to being a miracle, nut I couldn't help myself) and now I seriously need some sleep. Spend most of last night and tonight doing chemistry and a English paper...and my story of course. **

**Spoiler: Tala and Bryan are goind to be in the story as well, but not just yet..and they know Kai from the streets...somehow ;)...and I know Kai is acting somewaht out of character in this chapter (willingly telling about himself)....maybe later on too, but I needed to tell his story.**

**Make me happy (and thereby convinced this should be continued...although I like it to much to stop right now...it's still nice to know that people like it)...**

**and REVIEW (you press the little button in the left corner down there...)**


	4. Sneaking out

**So here we go again...I must love not getting any sleep, cause once again it's getting passed my bedtime, but I just got so caught up.**

**I know no one really reads this...so I just use it as my space to ramble on about what I'm feeling. I did my very best in this chapter, but I don't know if it turned out that great...**

**Anyway here you go my sweet readers...yet another chapter (enjoy it, since I probably won't update until next weekend, or maybe even next week...damn school and homework...'glares hard at her physics book')**

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**Running out of days**

Chapter three- Sneaking out

Michael had been sitting at his computer for nearly most of the afternoon trying to concentrate on his homework, but was being greatly distracted by the thought of Kai and what he had told them at lunch. As he once again tried to focus on his homework, his door opened quietly and Lee and Rei snuck in before closing it just as quietly again. They sat down on his bed, after Rei had straightened out the messed up red, white and blue blanket, and Michael turned around in his office chair. The differences between all the boys' rooms were big, but they all held the same teenage boyish thing to them. Michael and Lee being the oldest, kept their room a bit more mature, as supposed to Max and Tyson's, which were still filled with cartoon posters, toy cars and, in Max's case, teddy bears. Rei was somewhere in between, wanting to be more like his cousin, but still liking his posters.

"So..." Lee started after a few minutes of silence between them, "what do you think of our newest member?"

"I don't really know. He seems to be an okay guy, but I cant figure him out since he wont let us near him. I don't blame him though. If I'd been abused and beaten, I would have trouble trusting people and letting them get close." Michael's eyes were narrowed in anger at the thought of Kai's grandfather.

"Hell yeah, me too. Maybe we should just give him some time to get used to the situation."

"Do you think he meant what he said about getting himself thrown out?" Rei joined the conversation.

"Oh, I totally forgot about that. Well to me, he seems to do what ever he want and not caring about it. The way he talked about his abuse, as if happened to someone else and not himself. I wouldn't put it by him to try and get kicked out, just to prove he was wrong about us wanting to take him in, and that he was worth it."

"Wow Michael. Who made you world specialist in analysing troubled teens?" Lee laughed and Rei was soon to follow.

"Why thank you, that would be on the account of...uhm that fact that I'm used to be one myself." Michael was trying to kept his mask up and not break out laughing like the two of them.

"Arw man, get real. You were never a troubled teen. You couldn't have been more then ten the time you rebelled for no more than a week or so, threatening to steal Tyson and Max's teddy bears if you didn't get a baseball bat, and you did steal them by the way, need I remind you?" This time it was Rei who was teasing Michael.

A that particular memory Michael's mask cracked and he almost fell of his chair laughing louder than Lee and Rei together. When ever they were upset or the tensions became too much to handle, they would always retort to humour. And besides the fact that they were making fun of Michael, he thought it was nice to think of something else than the broody teen in the next room. After wiping the tears of joy from the eyes, they calmed down enough to focus on the originally subject, Kai.

"Back to mister trouble. What about we went and talked to him, wouldn't that be the best way to get to know him?" Lee and Michael couldn't seem to think of a better idea, so they just nodded in agreement and got up.

They stopped outside Kai's room and after looking at each other, in order to see if they all agreed to enter, Michael slowly opened the door and they slipped in.

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At first Kai didn't notice that someone had entered the room, as he lay with his eyes closed and the music was so loud that he couldn't even hear his own thinking, which had been his intention. But his instinct quickly told him that he was no longer alone and so he slid one eye open to see who it was that had entered and broken his solitude. When he saw Michael, Lee and Rei standing by the door, he sat up on the bed and packed his discman away.

"What do you want?"

"Ehh...we just wanted to talk, you know, get to know one another." Michael went over to the chair at the desk and sat down, leaving the others to just stand by the door.

"Well I don't want to talk, and I don't want to get to know you."

"Why?" Rei was obviously not understanding where Kai was getting at. Lee and Michael's eyes meet for a few seconds silently communicating. They guessed that he didn't believe that he was going to stay long enough for it to matter.

"Because I'm not staying here, so it would just be a waste of time." Kais said, proving Lee and Michael correct.

"But..." Lee was cut off by Judy's calling from down the hall about dinner being ready. So he didn't get a chance to ask Kai why he was so intent on leaving, as the teen left the room at the call, probably seeing it as a nice excuse to get away from the questions.

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Dinner was over in a blur or so it seemed. Bruce and Judy tried their best to get Kai to open up and talk, but he kept silent and only spoke about two or three words total. Tyson and Max were busy stuffing themselves and competing in who could eat the most, of course Tyson won as he always did. Lee, Rei and Michael were discussing something about their next lesson with Mr. Granger in material arts. After the meal and the cleaning up, they all went to the living room to watch a movie, even Kai, though he sat far away from the rest, and didn't socialize one bit with them. The movie ended a bit after their normal bedtime, but they were allowed to see the ending, before being ordered to bed by a stern, yet smiling at the same time, looking Judy. After she made sure that all the boys indeed were in bed, she went back into the living room, where another hour or so was spend planning the shopping trip the next day.

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At 11.30 the house was finally quiet and Kai got out of his bed, got dressed and grabbed his skateboard and blade, all in a few minutes without making even the smallest sound. Then carefully he opened the window and climbed out of it and snuck across the lawn, keeping his head down just in case. The wall, even being twice his height was no problem at all, was quickly jumped.

Skating down the empty streets that got more crowded as he entered the more dirty part of the town, Kai took in the feeling of freedom. He loved it at night time, everything was completely different in the dark, and to him it was a change for the better. Winding up at an apparently abandoned warehouse, he got of his skateboard and went around to the back.

"Hey Jack. Is there something going down tonight?" Kai asked the big beefy guy who was guarding the door.

The man didn't't reply, but then again he never did, he just stepped aside and let Kai enter the building shutting the door firmly behind him. Entering the brightly lit and extremely huge room, Kai scanned it for familiar faces. Quickly recognizing a group standing close by, he walked over to them

"Hey Kai. It's been a few days since I last saw you. What've you been up to? Feeling ready for a fight? There's some big money on it tonight, the place is crowded." Matt raised his fist to meat Kai's head on.

The 23-year-old was a good friend of Kai, having known the teen from he was 8 and had just gotten in from Russia and started roaming the streets aimlessly in order to get away from his foster parent and so on. The 2 years Kai had spend living in the streets, from when he was 12 to14, had been under the protection of Matt. Thanks to him Kai knew how to take care of himself, so in order to pay something back, and just because he liked it, he spend a lot of nights fighting and using his talent to kick ass.

"Got into a new foster home."

"That's gotta suck. How many more are there?" as they talked, Matt and Kai walked a bit away from everyone.

"Five, all boys. Two at 14, one at 15 and the last two are 16."

"Man, I really feel for you, but it beats the last home with the little perfect we-are-only-taking-you-in-to-look-good-family."

"Yeah, I guess it's acceptable."

"But are you up for the fight? This guy hasn't lost that many of his fights and he's a lot bigger than you, But if you win this it's five large to each of us."

"Well, his luck's about to run out. I'm in."

Following Matt as they walked over to the registrations to get Kai signed up for the fight, Kai was greeted by several other people, who knew the little teen. Most of the crowd were men, only very few were girls, and they were mainly just the guys' girlfriends, not actual fighters. About a third of the crowd in there were fighters, the rest were just watching and gambling big on who was to win the fights.

"Name and age of the competitor?" the man asked ready to write the answer down on the signup list.

"Kai, 15."

At this the man looked up from his paper and at Kai. Surely enough everyone there seemed to be at least somewhere in their twenties, a few in their thirties, and Kai stood out as the only one being under 18. He was also smaller then most of the others, but he was all muscle and had a very fit body. The man looked like he noticed this, or maybe the fire burning in those crimson orbs, made him ignore what ever comment he had about Kai's age.

"Okay, you're up in about 10 minutes against Damien. Bets can be made over there." he said and pointed towards a group of men in black with black sunglasses. Matt left Kai for a few moments to go and place the bets, then they went back to Matt's group of friends.

The ten minutes passed by and Kai was called to the ring with Matt close behind him. He slipped his sweater of and made sure his shoes and gloves were tight enough, then he stepped into the ring. It was somewhat like a boxing ring, but it was made by metal only, so if you were to be thrown into the side, it wouldn't be a nice experience.

Kai looked at his opponent. Sure the guy was big and he had a lot of muscle, but it didn't look like he was fast and he had a way to overconfident smile on his face that Kai was looking forward to wiping off.

"Okay you two. I want a fight with the fist, get it. No knives." The judge snapped his fingers after the statement indicating that the fight was on.

Kai plan was to use his speed and agility to wear his opponent down as he blocked and avoided the hits and sometimes kicks that was delivered by his raging enemy. After a good 10 minutes or so, the speed of the hits had slowed down a bit and Kai took it as a sign that Damien was getting tired. Kai waited for an opening as he in a nice roundhouse sent his foot into Damien's face making him step back slightly. Kai followed the kick with a series of rapid punches to the guy's stomach and another kick was delivered to the head. He was about to take a nice swing at his stomach, when Kai suddenly felt a blade making it's way across his abs.

"I told you there would be no knives in this fight. You are disqualified." the judge tried to interfere, but Damien still had the knife in his hand, so he backed away and Damien returned his attention to Kai.

In the meantime Kai had checked the cut out. It was bleeding a lot, but didn't seem that bad. It started at his left hip and went slightly upwards across his stomach for about 2 or 3 inches. If Kai had been determent to win before it was nothing compared to what he felt know. Damien was going to suffer deeply. Kai took a few steps backwards before he charged against the man and in a perfect spinning kick he hit the guy's temple and sent him flying into the metal side of the ring, where he fell unconscious.

* * *

After Kai was declared the winner and had gotten the payment, Matt took him aside to clean up the cut. It wasn't as big or deep as it had first looked, so there was no need for going to the hospital to get stitches, it just needed to be rinsed and bandage. No matter how many times Matt had cleaned one of Kai's wounds, and there had been quite a few over the years, he never sized to be somewhat amazed by how the kid never showed any pain. He knew it was hell using antiseptic on a open wound, but it was they had. They pain of using it was sometimes used to wake up an almost beaten fighter, if he needed to carry on. Not many did that, Matt included, but there were some of the big goons that would do just about anything to keep their guy fighting. Pouring some of the antiseptic onto the wound, Kai flinched a little, but no sound escaped his lips, no even the slightest hiss of the pain he was clearly feeling. Matt knew that Kai would never admit the pain even if he asked him, so he would usually talk to the boy to keep his mind of the pain.

"Nice work, Kai. But try not to get sliced up the next time. " Matt chuckled at the fierce glare Kai was giving him.

"I was _not_ getting sliced up. It was supposed to be a fight with no blades, he just caught me be surprise, that's all. And I did beat him, didn't I?"

"You sure did, I doubt he'll be able to fight for a long time. Remind me never to pull a blade against you." Matt finished the bandage and pulled down the shirt.

"You wanna borrow one, so they won't get suspicious at the home? I have one just like it, though it might be a bit bigger."

Kai looked down a the fairly large cut in his shirt before nodding.

They left for Matt's apartment to get the t-shirt and Kai pulled put a cigarette and lit it. Taking a deep inhaling, he held the smoke in for a while before letting it out. Matt who had been walking in his own thoughts, was brought back to reality by the smell of the smoke.

"I totally forgot you smoked. You got one for me?"

Kai pulled one out from the pack and handed it over. The rest of the walk was spend in silence, just enjoying the night and the relaxation from the nicotine. After getting the shirt, he left with the promise made to be back the next day if the wound wasn't healing properly, so Matt could take him to the hospital and no one would find out.

When he got back Kai crawled over the wall to the dojo with slightly bigger problems then when he had snuck out, the cut throbbing painfully at the movements. Getting safely over it, he hurried across the ground to his window and slipped through it. He kicked of his boots and clothes except his boxers, throwing into a pile on the floor and crawled to bed. Then he got up again walked over to the pile on the floor, grabbed the money in the pocket and put them into a secret room in his duffle bag, before snuggling up in the blankets without putting to much pressure on the cut.

* * *

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**Yeah, I know I didn't't describe the dinner that well, but it really wasn't that important...they'll get plenty of time to talk on their shopping trip (heh he he...Kai shopping o)**

**Not wanting to describe their rooms right now....mail me if you want the detail....just think of the normal teenage boy's room. More colourful and brighter than Kai's will ever be...and filled with lots of stuff...just rambling now, so I'll stop.**

**And of course PLEASE do me the honour of reviewing...cause it really does make my day...and you'll get a cookie...(and thanks to all who have been so super nice to do it so far)**


	5. Shopping and old friends

**Running out of days**

Chapter four- Shopping and old friends

Kai woke up the next morning to a banging on his door. He slowly opened one eye and determined that it was way past his usually wakeup time at six a clock, since the sun was shining bright through the window. When the knocking ceased, he closed his eye and buried his head deeper into the pillow.

"Kai? Are you up yet? We are just about ready to have breakfast, and then we're going shopping. Remember?"

At the voice of Michael Kai forced himself to sit up in the bed. A low hiss left his lips, when the wound on his stomach protested at the quick movement, but it was really that big a deal. After all he'd had much worse.

"Kai, are you up?"

"Just give me a sec" Kai growled, getting out of bed and picking some clothes out of his bag. He quickly threw on a dark blood red t-shirt that said 'Friends help you move' on the front and 'Real friends help you move bodies' on the back and his other pairs of black pants, just before the door was slowly opened.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were actually getting up" Michael smiled, then he frowned a bit. "How come the fins on your cheeks didn't smear up when you slept?"

"Because it's not paint" Kai had put on his sneakers, and since he didn't take of his leather and silver bracelets last night, he was all set for breakfast and left his room.

"But if it's not paint then what is it?" Michael followed Kai into the kitchen and sat own next to him.

The other which were already seated at the table indulged in their pancakes, turned to look at Kai. They all looked at the four blue shark fins which indeed were in perfect place as they were last night.

"Yeah Kai, what is it?" Bruce joined Michael in the small interrogation.

"Tattoos" was all Kai said as he started eating his pancakes.

"But you not old enough to get a tattoo. Where did you get it? And why?" Judy was looking something between concerned and angered.

"These weren't my wish. They were my grandfathers."

At that statement they all fell quiet and went back to eating after a few moments of awkward silence. With the mention of Kai's grandfather successfully killing the mood, the breakfast was soon finished, and the table was cleared and they got ready to leave. Mr. Granger chose to stay at home and prepare for their lesson in material arts for when they got back.

At the mall Judy insisted that they needed to go buy Kai some more clothes. He protested a few times, but neither Judy or Bruce were giving into his request, so he just settled for the whole ordeal. Hell, if they wanted to pay he would let them. But he really didn't need that much more clothes, if he did he would have bought it himself with the money he made on fighting.

They decided to split up. Judy went with Tyson and Max to buy some cartoons and the other teens went with Bruce to buy Kai some clothes. He reluctantly went with them into a shop called 'New Yorker' and was told by Bruce to pick out a couple of pants, shirts and so on, and then go try them on. After spending almost an hour, Bruce finally decided that Kai had enough clothes for now, being the total of 3 new pair of pants, 9 t-shirts, 4 shirts, 2 sweaters, 5 muscle shirts, lots of socks and several pairs of black silk boxers. Kai had chosen all of his new clothes in either black, dark red or dark blue, leaving no room for discussion, and he had been careful when he was trying the clothes on, so that no one saw his bandage around the cut. The t-shirts were rather simple, but most of them had something on it. Fire, wings or just feathers were the symbols Kai seemed to like. Then on a few of them there were text such as 'I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it'. Then came the matter of shoes. Kai insisted on his trusty old sneakers being enough, but they kept annoying him, so at last he picked out a pair of black army boots, mentally noting to himself that they could come in handy in a fight.

Bruce asked Kai which colour he would like the room to be in, what colour the bed linen should in and stuff like that before he left the teens alone to go and find Judy. They would then go shopping for the more boring stuff and Kai, Lee, Rei and Michael was told to meet them at the van in an hour.

"Hey Michael! Out on a little family trip?"

Kai jerked his head up at the familiar voice. No, it couldn't be him. He wouldn't know people like Michael, or maybe Michael wasn't what Kai had first thought. The smirking redhead and his lilac haired friend made their way across the crowd of shoppers to Michael and the rest of them.

"So Michael. Think we can pry you away from this, whatever it is?"

"Maybe later guys. Remember I told you we were getting a new boy? This is Kai. We're showing him around and getting some stuff for his room and so on. Kai. The red head is Tala and his partner in crime would be Bryan. They are in my class at school."

"Kai! Long time no see." Tala and Bryan were practically beaming at Kai, as much as they allowed themselves to beam, it was more of a smirk, but it was clear that they were happy to see the teen.

"Wait! You know him?" Lee was looking from Tala to Kai to Bryan and then back at Tala.

"Yeah, we've know this little menace for a couple of years now." Tala's sapphire blue eyes were fixed on Kai, as if he was silently asking the boys something.

"Hi Bry. Hi Tal. Nice to see you two again. How long has it been?"

"About a year I would say, little one." Bryan's smirk grew wider at the death glare he received from that comment, though one could see where he was coming from. Both Tala and Bryan were a head taller than Kai, and they took their time reminding him of that fact.

"I may be shorter than you, but I can still kick your ass, just name the time and place."

"Oh no, Bryan." Tala interrupted the big teen up as he was about to take the challenge. "We don't need you to spend another two weeks at the hospital."

"Kai send Bryan to the hospital? But he's like twice as big as Kai." Michael, Lee and Rei suddenly got back into the conversation.

"Hn... It wasn't my fault. The jerk attacked me and I just defended myself."

"Yeah, but if you hadn't picket my pocket, I wouldn't have had a reason to do so."

"Come on Bry, that was like 3 years ago. I said I was sorry." Kai tried hard to look innocent, but the small smirk on his face and the spark in his eyes led your thoughts towards deep water and triangular fins.

"So Kai, anything new up? Still kicking ass and hanging out with Matt?" Bryan's eyes were shining with amusement, like he played along with Kai innocent act, but at the same time letting everyone know that he wasn't buying it.

"Yes"

"Okay, okay. I get where you're going at. But anything new besides you're now living with these weirdoes?" Tala changed the subject away from the fighting subject.

"Yeah, you could say that. Got of the street and through 4 adopted homes and one foster, but I did spend a couple of weeks at Matt's around Christmas." after that Kai suddenly stuck out his tongue at Tala, who merely laughed in return.

"I never thought you were seriously about getting it"

"Obviously you were wrong Tala" Bryan looked weighenly at Kai before continuing "I always believed it would be another tattoo."

"Instead of what?" Michael was looking really lost, as were Lee and Rei.

Kai turned to them and stuck out his tongue so that they could see the silver stud piercing it. "It's on my back, Bry."

"But how could you get a piercing through your tongue or a tattoo? Doesn't it require the permission of an adult?" Lee narrowed his eyes at Kai, who just ignored it.

"Yeah, and I did get that." Kai smirked and then added "For the piercing."

"But from who?"

"A friend of mine, Matt."

"What was that about a tattoo, Kai? You have another one besides the fins?" Lee asked still a little daze by the whole Kai-knowing-Tala-and-Bryan-and-having-piercings-and-tattoos-thing.

"I got one on my back. Took forever to get it done."

"Can we see it Kai?" Bryan made a fast movement with his hand to try and lift up Kai's shirt, but said teen just as quickly moved out of reach.

"Not here."

"Why?" Tala was looking with narrowed eyes at Kai.

"Because you can't." Kai glared back so hard that it was a miracle Tala didn't turn into a icicle.

"Uhm. It's not that I want to interrupt your precious little staring contest here but we should be meeting out by the van right now." Rei waved his hand nervously between Kai and Tala.

"Okay, I'll let the little one go this time..."

"Hn...as if you would have won."

"...but do you mind us coming over later tonight, Michael? We'd love to catch up with Kai."

"Sure thing. We have practice when we get home, so if you just stop by in 2-3 hours, it'll be fine."

Uhhh, just love black silk boxers, hi hi hi.


End file.
